Bat Country
by Elcee the Porcupine
Summary: Nick and Judy investigate a report about a bat who had been sneaking on an inmate's cell during the night. After finding her with the help of a porcupine called Q, it's discovered that the bat simply wanted to provide company for a badger. But even as they have an early release, their group has to face a personal war against the toughest criminals in Zootopia, and within.
1. Flight Night

It wasn't until about 11:57 PM when someone noticed a little bat perched upside down in one of the leaves of the Palm Hotel and Casino.

Reportedly, some of the lights in the Sahara Square Oasis were also being blocked, adding a degree of darkness. A crew consisting of a capybara, a bobcat, and a mysterious rodent in a thick hoodie carrying electronic equipment moved around near the entrance of the hotel, and quickly set up a stage, all casted in shadow from the hotel lights behind them. Their equipment of big speakers, rock instruments, and a bell behind the battery drums started subtly catching the attention of the public. Animals already began filming the crew on their phones and tried to zoom in on the bat in the building.

The bat sat perched there, seemingly asleep and unmoving. A camera crew had been called in, reporting the finding live and captured a closeup of her. A silver quaver necklace dangled from the bat's neck towards the ground.

The bat soon opened their wings. She was smiling confidently and her eyes showed brightness. She wore a headset. The flying fox looked up to the ground, with her necklace dangling from her neck to her snout. She looked down to the sky and slid the necklace back in place and took a breath. A small and happy voice came out of the flying fox's mouth.

"Good evening, Zootopia!" Her voice rang across the speakers, and the murmuring crowds waited in silence and anticipation. "I am Rita Rodrigues. We hope you enjoy our presentation."

At 12:00 AM, the capybara struck the bell lightly. Moments later, he struck again. At the third strike, rising voices were heard from the skies. Swarms of bats wearing mirrors on their chests flew across the sky above and sang a unified chorus. They began to chant in a vaguely gothic tone, their loud echoing voices spreading across the casino area. Animals twisted their heads around in surprise as the bats soared in synchrony, the city lights reflecting from them back at the ground below.

The capybara began to play the battery in a fast, tense rhythm, as Rita let go of the leaf and free fell. The hooded rodent played a melody in minor key in a keyboard with one hand, adding to the tense and gothic tone while Rita righted herself. Then, she spread her winds and took off.

The band then began to play a rock verse in a less rapid rhythm, but still in the same tempo. They played while the bats continued their chant and Rita soared in loops around the Palm building. Animals began to cheer and more rush to film the event in their phones. Rita pivoted her flight to make a landing at the band's stage flawlessly.

She started to sing.

Her voice drifted away from the gothic feel for a more lighthearted, smooth rock melody. The perfect pitch of her voice and control of her breath had animals rushing forward towards the stage, and began filming her. The rest of the band went through the background as Rita took the central spotlight. Her necklace glimmered in the camera flashes and Sahara lights. She glided towards the crowd during the first chorus.

At the second chorus, Rita finally flew up and joined the bats in the air. The bats followed her movements as they danced in the air, creating various shapes and even jet-like "v" formations. The lights reflected from their mirrors created a minor light-show of sorts. A bigger flying fox flew up and had his mirror pointed towards her, and created a more genuine makeshift spotlight towards her. The other bats soon followed, positioning themselves to shine bright lights to her while she sang.

The band grew quieter for a few moments, while the rodent played the same minor key melody from before. Rita descended in a corkscrew back into the stage close to the rodent, while the bats above sang their previous chorus. A brief pause occurred, and the bobcat soon performed a short guitar solo along with the capybara's drumming. During this, Rita leaned close to the crowd.

"Hey!" she called out. "Guess this makes me an acro-bat! Right?" She giggled. Behind her, the keyboardist rodent let out a silent groan.

Rita then immediately began to sing again. The bats above them descended towards the crowd of animals, and shot them friendly, toothy grins and quick hellos, much to the crowd's delights. One even seized the opportunity to try to high-paw a puma, at the risk of throwing off his flight, but got back into the air with ease and a chuckle. Rita sang with passion as the bats approached the stage and flew around it. Meanwhile, a pair of bats flew by and carried a long banner on both ends.

The bats started to fly away as the song was finishing. The two bats hung the banner above the entrance of the hotel as the music was being finished and flew away. When the capybara crashed a cymbal. Rita, the larger flying fox, and some of the other bats remained behind to take a bow, before finally flying off. The band quickly took away their equipment as fast as they could and fled into the streets of Sahara Square in the bats' direction with their stage being wheeled away. The crowd watched them go, before turning their heads towards the banner. They immediately began to murmur and take pictures of it.

 **'Bat Country'**

it read in bright colors in a graffiti-like design, with some bat symbols and quavers decorating the blank spaces.

* * *

 **(A/N): Well, this is my OTHER fic I'm working on, and I'm uploading what I have so far here: it's five chapters right now. It's originally available on AO3.**

 **The song this chapter is referencing is California by U2.**


	2. Flying Sly Fox?

_[…] Today we're going to be looking out on a retrospective: it has since been two years after the Night Howler incident, and our city has seen some significant change regarding that situation._

 _Lionheart and Bellwether are still doing time, forcing the city council to accept the need to elect our new mayor, Edward Banshenzi. Controversy arose from the decision to elect the mammal due to his background, but has been earning good publicity due to his efforts in providing funds for public institutions, such as the Zootopia General Hospital, and the larger staffing of the ZPD and its division in Little Rodentia. Now, tensions have mostly died down and Zootopia seems at peace once again, but several long-lasting effects still linger across the population._

 _Some animals used the incident to confirm their prejudices in spite of its artificial nature, with several small groups demanding for the surveillance of predator citizens and the resignation of our current mayor. Other animals looked to use the Night Howler drug for criminal purposes. Mayor Banshenzi issued a ban on the retribution of 'midnicampum holicithias' within the city area, and created the Zootopia Drug and Feral Investigation within the ZPD, led by lieutenant Kara Callison to monitor suspicious activity on the illegal sale of Night Howler drugs or other similar substances._

 _They are currently tracking down a gang of Night Howler trafficants led by gang leader Bona Fangstein. Although still unsuccessful in catching their leader, and the initial reports of Night Howlers findings causing alarm, it was through the ZDFI's brave efforts that they have effectively slowed the gang down with their restless search and apprehending of its members, preventing any other major outbreaks from occurring, and ensuring the safety of the city._

 _The abandoned asylum where the original missing predators were kept was raided and vandalized in recent months, with several crude images depicting feral predators, crying predators with muzzles on their faces, signatures, and painted blood smears on the walls inside and out. An image of a badger with large claws and teeth pulling an apparently helpless predator around with a leash was painted on the empty research lab, with the words 'DONT CARE' and 'QUACK' written on the adjacent walls. The nature of this graffiti is still being considered._

 _Officers Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde, the top investigators on this incident and city heroes in their own right, have served the force during these two years. They've brought down several crime organizations the previous year and continue to hold a respectable record in solved cases. Time will tell whether they'll receive another big case this year. [...]_

Nick switched off the news station and tuned to a rock music channel. Judy recoiled from the sudden change.

"Hey, why did you shut it off? That was pretty interesting." Judy playfully protested.

"Just never imagined I'd hear my name everywhere in short time," Nick commented, adjusting his shades. "But now it's getting pretty tiring, lemme tell you, attention's really overrated."

"But it's good attention, I mean, people are looking up to us know! Remember the kits, Nick?"

His eyes widened. "Oh, yeah, the kits. They've got some pretty big dreams. Heh. Kinda proud about that."

"Just 'kinda'?" Judy smiled.

Nick feigned exasperation and smirked back. "Look, the point is, it feels weird to meet all these old faces everywhere again and they go, 'oh, Nick, you've gone straight', or 'oh, so now you're part of The Mam!' or something."

"And we're too famous to even do any undercover missions either…" Judy adds. She snorts at the awkwardness of it, and they both remained silent the rest of the drive to the station. They listened to broadcast of one of Imagine Lagomphs's hit tracks as they travelled across some of the city, watching several animals going to jobs they previously couldn't or were not allowed to get. Judy remembered the various other mammals falling outside of their species' stereotype over the course of her career; Nick and herself, obviously; Gideon making a profit baking pies; Kara having the bravest nerves of steel ever seen on a smaller wildcat; even Bellwether proved to be an efficient and calculating leader, despite being a horrible mammal. So many animals are following their dreams, and she couldn't have it any other way for the citizens…

She was about to remember another mammal, when they had arrived at the station. As they got off and walked to the entrance, Judy decided to pick up on their previous conversation.

"Our job is pretty tiring," she says. "But at least it's all worth it."

"Well," Nick shrugs. "If you say so. Maybe. Yeah, definitely." He smirked, putting his shades away. Being a cop wasn't without it's trouble, and his change in career seemed jarring at first and that he still wasn't fully used to, but he still dedicated himself to what he ever truly wanted since he was young.

Judy and Nick entered the station and headed over to the bullpen for their next assignment that day. As they passed by Clawhauser's desk, they found him enjoying a rock music video playing on his phone, not even noticing Nick and Judy walking by in front of him, and he let out tiny squeals of excitement.

From there, Judy and Nick entered the bullpen. They were met with greets, some cheers, and of course, animal sounds and big, happy stomps. They settled down in their seat, the rhino next to them actually somewhat more willing to fistbump both of them. In one of the tables, Kara and a painted dog sat near them, both wearing their ZDFI uniforms. Kara leaned over to their direction, and shot them a friendly grin.

"'Sup!" she greeted.

"Oh, Kara!" Judy greeted back with a bright smile.

"Kara Cal!" Nick quipped. "Since when did you started going casual?"

"Hey, I'm allowed to be casual sometimes! I'm not on duty yet," Kara chuckled. "Besides, Chief Bogo hasn't even arrived yet. Man, this feels like college again, just waiting for the professor to show up." She turned to laugh at her candid partner and he chuckled back.

"Kinda feels like high school to me," Nick responded, and Judy laughed as well.

The four were simply quipping nonsense at each other for a minute, until they noticed the door was moving. They turned their heads towards Chief Bogo entering the room, which had suddenly gone quiet. The four scrambled to sit straight, Kara and her partner in particular sporting serious-looking poker faces. Bogo looked somewhat annoyed, something that usually meant that there were some bad news, as Judy and Nick would asset.

However, Bogo simply moved on with giving the cop teams assignments as per the norm, though without elaborating on personal annoyances. Kara and her teammate were sent off to continue their major case to track down Fangstein, while the other cops were given their daily tasks and investigative work.

Bogo then waited until all the other cops had gone. He took a breath and addressed Nick and Judy, who seemed puzzled.

"Officers Hopps and Wilde," he called, and paused for a brief moment. "We received a report from the Zootopia Female County Jail. A mammal has apparently been sneaking onto the widow of one inmate's cell during the night. They are, concerned about a possibility of a jailbreak attempt," he paraphrased, "and requested the mammal to be tracked down for interrogation. Step forward and you will receive the details."

Judy and Nick glanced at each other and got off their seats. They walked towards Bogo, ready to ask questions.

"So, why do you need us for this?" asked Nick.

"Is this a big case?" asked Judy, very slightly impatient. "I mean, what does this have to do with us?"

Bogo held a folder in his hooves as they approached the door; he already had the case file with him. "I wouldn't call it 'big' in the sense that you're assuming, but I believe it has everything to do with you." He opened up the file, and inside was the report, complete with a picture taken of the mammal as they turned to leave the window, blurry from the motion. The only part that was recognizable was the bat shape, and the strange glimmer on their chest. Close to it was a mugshot of the inmate that housed that very cell. Bogo pointed to it. "Recognize this mammal from anywhere?"

Judy paused. She took the case from Bogo's hoof, and looked closer. Nick went over to read the file over her shoulder, both of them frowning in confusion. Judy blinked a few times, staring at the image and faintly recognized who was depicted, slowly starting to remember where she had seen them before.

"…Yeah…" she breathes out.

Bogo stands firm. "We can't jump into conclusions with our suspect's motives," stated Bogo. "But if there is indeed a jailbreak imminent, there will be some major trouble. This inmate is indirectly involved with the original Night Howler case, and if news were to break out about a potential escape, something drastic and violent will occur. Their lives, and the lives of all of Zootopia need to be protected from this troubling case, and for that, we need to find out what their motives are before it gets violent. We need to get to the bottom of this as soon as possible. Do you understand?"

Judy looked up at Bogo, then looked at Nick. In a few moments, Nick looked a bit serious, and wordlessly nodded. Judy sighed and looked up at Bogo again, and Nick did the same.

"Alright," she stated with confidence. "We'll figure this out."

"Very well, then." Bogo gave them a stoic thumbs up before they headed out. "Good luck, we're counting on you."

After a quick salute, they headed back into the reception area towards their car to look for a lead in their case. Judy, however, shot another confused frown the more she thought about the case. She turned to try and talk to Nick about the situation, as something wasn't clicking right with her. But at this point, Clawhauser noticed them, and signaled at them.

"Hey, guys!" he shouted. "Bogo put you on the bat case now, right? So…" he turned to his phone for a few moments as Judy and Nick approached the desk. "I think this should help you out! It's Bat Country!" he held the phone to them and showed them footage of bats with mirrors on their chests flying right above the crowd, with rock music in the background. Judy held up the blurry picture taken of the suspect, discovering that several bats from the video, with the glimmer in their chests, matched the one on the picture taken at the jail.

"… Bat Country, right?" Judy asked quickly for confirmation.

"Oh, yeah!" said Clawhauser. "They're a flash mob that's just FULL of bats! And they're really good at dancing and singing and, WOW, they're so cool! Oh, and the rock band they had, Oh my GOSH!" He squished his cheeks in delight. "Oh, man I just HAD to be there! They're so much better live, I bet!" He suddenly paused and looked slightly sheepish. "But one of them's bound to be our suspect, of course, he, he…"

"Oh, good, good! Yes!" Judy cheered, and turned towards Nick. "Looks like we've got a lead!" Judy turned back to Clawhauser with hopeful eyes. "Can you give us any information about them?"

"Ohhhhhhhh…" Clawhauser remarked extremely awkwardly, closing one eye and flinching, and Judy's smile instantly faded. "Yeah, um. Thing is…" he twiddled his fingers. "They are… really reclusive. Pretty much no one's been able to get information on them. No website, no social media, barely anything to identify them with… nothing. And… nobody seems to know them personally, or they don't talk about them in public. So… that might be a bit of a problem…"

Judy stood there in disappointment. Nick placed a comforting paw on her shoulder, but part of her knew there was some playful teasing behind it, given her reaction before. "Well," she said. "Thanks for trying to help, this is some useful information."

Clawhauser perked up. "Oh, no problem! Ha, you're welcome!" he responded.

Judy smiled at him, before she and Nick headed outside. Clawhauser loudly wished them luck while they opened the doors and headed to their car. The duo then went to enter their car and sat quietly on the seats. For a few minutes, they pondered what to do, now that it would've been difficult to track down Bat Country by itself.

"Alright, Carrots, so what's the plan now?" asked Nick while putting on his shades again.

"Well… we know our suspect is bat, and one from Bat Country…" she paused to think. "… But we can't just go around profiling every bat in Zootopia…"

There was some silence before Nick spoke up. "So then our first step would have to be… the mammal our suspect interacted with?"

"Yeah." Judy says. "That's really our main lead for now. We'd have to talk to the guards to let us question her. Hm."

Nick breathed hard. "So that's where we're going, huh?"

Judy was distracted for a moment. "What— oh, yes. That's where we have to go." She started the police car, and prepared to drive away.

Nick leaned back, seemingly more relaxed than she was. "Well, then Carrots. Drive on."

Judy pulled out of the station, without responding too much to Nick. She was getting too uncomfortable with the matter at hand. Her fingers gripped the wheel when she drove out to the street, she breathed hard, and her nose twitched once, luckily without Nick noticing. As they drove to the directions leading to the jail, Judy once again began to think. This all seemed so strange to her, while the memories from two years ago came flooding back to her. The place they ended up, the evidence she recorded, the conversation, the statements. And then the trial, the sentence, the confession.

And then Judy quietly asked herself, why would someone like that mammal make those kinds of comments about predators…

when she was one herself?


	3. Forbidden Friendship

The Zootopia Female County Jail was located on a hill at the outskirts of the main city, and the duo had to travel by bridge to reach the location. It was a relatively old yet decently-maintained jail, its hill surrounded by several other abandoned industrial buildings. Security wasn't too extreme, but the facility was fenced off with wire, with thick walls stretching out underground to prevent inmates from just clawing and burrowing out. Though in some of the former convicts' opinions, the place wasn't refurbished enough, looking more like a dungeon than a jail that was supposed to house less severe punishments.

Judy passed through a security booth, and the wolf guard lifted the bar to pass the cop car through the area. The car drove up a small path, until it reached the entrance of the jail. After parking just in front of the entrance, Nick and Judy exited the car to meet an impala guard at the door. The guard motioned for them to go in. The duo entered the doors of the facility, where an antelope guard awaited them.

"Morning officers," she formally greeted.

"Morning," Judy replied. "On behalf of the ZPD, we have received your report on the situation."

Nick took out the case file, and pulled out a picture of the mugshot. "We, uh, request that we see the inmate to ask her some questions, as she had been interacting with our suspect."

The antelope looked at the image and held it to her hooves. She put a hoof to her chin and hummed in thought, seriously attempting to consider if it was worth it. "Well," she said. She paused for a few more moments, and handed the image back to Nick. She looked at them solemnly. "Perhaps you can try…"

Judy started to feel a tad concerned. Nicked looked at her, indicating a hunch that he had.

"Come on, I will lead you to her." The guard motioned them to go ahead and accompany them to the cell.

The antelope guided them through the different cell blocks. Some inmates had been gnawing at the bars, sleeping, or glaring at the two cops as they passed by. As they got closer, two guards, a zebra and a lioness, seemed to be arguing quietly with each other nearby, and the zebra seemed to hold something in her hooves. Judy couldn't make out what it was, even by the time they briefly stopped arguing and turned to her and Nick's direction. It was then that Judy somehow noticed that the conditions on the jail haven't been… updated in a while. She looked at Nick, and he shook his head as an indication that he also noticed.

They stopped just at the entrance of the cell block, where a disgruntled bear guard walked by. The antelope turned to Nick and Judy before leading them in. "Try to be cautious around her. I don't think she would be glad to see the duo who got her caught in the first place. At least that's what I assume. It's been a harrowing morning in here…"

Judy curiously turned to the cell block. In one of the cells, a snout and a pair of startled eyes peeked through the bars, before gasping sharply and immediately retreating inside. The guard noticed the sound and sighed in exasperation. While she signaled for Nick and Judy to slowly step forward to the cell, Nick and Judy notice a sign of impatience and frustration on the antelope. Once they faced the cell, they looked inside.

The badger sat close to her bed in the cell. She was turning their back to them, not intending to ever face them, with her tail curled to herself. Her shoulders were hunched and she seemed to only stare at the ground. The fur on the back of her head and neck seemed slightly tattered, as if it was pulled. She lightly scratched that part of her head, and she stroked part of her face and her snout, before wrapping herself in her own arms. Some of the walls in her dark cell had claw marks, and, very weirdly, the window was in the process of being boarded off, surrounding the cell in unnatural darkness. Judy and Nick took mental notes of this.

"Hey, Honey Badger." The guard raised her voice and faced close to the cell. "The ZPD is here, and now they want answers. Are you going to give it to them?" She berated.

Badger just flinched and curled up in herself more. A tiny, exhausted whimper was heard.

"Woah, hey, listen." Nick quickly whispered in a serious tone to the guard. "I, really don't think we should pressure her to answer questions. I mean, she's been talking to this suspect for a bit of a while, wasn't she? So… if we let her think the bat's in trouble, she's gonna have a hard time talking. She probably wants to protect her friend, so she doesn't wanna tell on her. Besides, she really doesn't look right…"

The antelope exhaled. "Believe us, we know. Maybe you'd have better luck with her or something, but you're pretty much the reason she's here. She probably resents you two. Look at her, she won't even look at you."

Judy leaned closer to the cell. Another thought raised in her mind, recalling the arguing guards, the antelope's impatience, and the generally tense atmosphere. "I'm curious, officer," Judy stated quietly, not taking her eyes off the badger. "If she normally doesn't look this unhinged…" she looked at the antelope. "Was she somehow involved in a struggle? Is that why she's like this?" Judy asked quietly, pointing to the badger's state.

The antelope was silent. She didn't appear to be able to answer, until she finished pondering what to say. "She woke up feeling terrible. When we found out about the bat, we proceeded to enter her cell, and she got in a fight with the guards. I don't think she would want to talk about what happened, so perhaps we should focus on the case at hand. I will leave you handle this."

Nick frowned slightly at the antelope's answer and watched her walk away. Judy and Nick quickly looked down to see more frantic-looking claw marks on the floor. Both of them assembled the pieces in their minds.

"… Right we'll be sure to keep that in mind," said Judy to the guard as she disappeared. Nick knew exactly what Judy meant, when the guard left she started scribbling frantically in her notebook, while he took a picture on the scratches on the floor. After gathering this evidence, Judy and Nick stood there, wondering what to do about their current case, and how Badger was going to… talk. Judy stood closer to the cell, staring at the size of it, and had an idea.

"Nick, I'm gonna try something a little crazy," she told Nick. "But I think I could pull it off."

"Alright," Nick affirmed. "Try to sound calm. She probably needs some peace more than anything."

Judy then slowly and patiently approached the cell. She looked up and noticed she was small enough to slip through the bars, but only peered her head, shoulder, and foot through. Judy breathed hard and swallowed, looking at the troubled mammal. "… Miss Badger?" she asked gently. Badger didn't respond. "Excuse me?" Judy asked again. "I am officer Hopps. Officer Wilde is right behind me. I promise, you're not in any trouble with us."

Badger let out a ragged snort. Her back rose and she turned her head away from the ground, but still with her back against Judy, and let out a small cough. She whispered in a tired, shaky, and almost bitter voice.

"… W-w-what do you wa-ant…"

Judy almost gasped. Then quickly regained composure. She put the bad thoughts away breathed. "Don't be afraid. We just want to ask a few questions. Again, you're not in any trouble with us. I promise."

Badger didn't reply, and only sat there in silence. She looked at the ground again in a deep sigh. Judy thought of what to say for a few moments, then took another deep breath.

"We never took any of what you did personally." she said.

Badger's head raised again, and her back rose even higher, taking a deep, ragged breath. Then she appeared to turn her head to her, but her face remained unseen. She continued to whisper, more direct and controlled, but still with a clear tone of despair, and barely audible.

"I never wanted to hurt anyone." She swallowed. "I would never want to hurt anyone again. Why— why can't they believe me? Why-why-why do I need to… lose everything?"

She never raised her voice, but the overwhelming sadness was clear. Judy looked at Nick, both in concern. They could easily identify someone too inconsolable to speak on traditional methods. What this badger needed was something a bit more personal, with the use of empathy. With this in mind, Judy completely slipped her body into the cell. Nick stood watch for any guards nearby, while pulling out their phone and taping the following conversation.

"Well, I'm trusting you now. I trust that you won't hurt me in here." Judy stood firm and spoke close to her, but not touching her so as to not frighten her again. Judy spoke up calmly. "You never struck me as someone who would be cruel. Not even back then. You… just wanted to help them, right?"

Badger let out a soft gasp. She almost turned around to face Judy, but only turned some of her body to her right, still not letting Judy see her face. Badge stroke her snout again.

"Y-yes. Of course." Badger whispered a little more calmly. She stopped to rub at her eyes and her face, and turned her head further away. "I never asked for it to be like this… I don't…" she mumbled. "Don't wish to talk about that."

"… Okay, then. We're not gonna talk about that." Judy affirmed. "But… we still need to know." She took yet another breath. "We need to know about the bat that snuck in here." Judy prepared to ask slowly and calmly. "What do you know about her? And what happened with her?"

Badger breathed sharply through her nose while both hands held her snout shut. She massaged her jaw, and barely got to her feet. She walked slowly to the end of her cell, and sat back down. She looked up at the boarded-off window.

Badger cleared her throat, having made the decision. She would repay Hopps's trust, with her honesty. Judy readied her notebook as Badger recited.

* * *

She was asleep when she heard a clang somewhere one night.

She had finished participating in a reunion featuring some musicians a while ago, and it was lockdown time.

first encounter occurred after a jail panel featuring musicians (bat country?)

Badger practically jumped off her bed and looked around fearfully. She whipped her head to all sides, but couldn't find out where the noise had come from, or if her mind told her that something was in her cell. She walked over to the bars, but still couldn't find anything in the dark cell block that could've tried to get instead. Badger was baffled, until she vaguely heard a grunt coming out of the window behind her.

"Pssst! Hey! Lady!"

Did… she hear someone whisper? At… the window. She quickly turned around in a fright, and saw a dark, split-second ghostlike silhouette. She took a breath to scream, until her vision cleared, to see a young bat teenager sticking it's head through the bars. She was rubbing the sides of her head and her shoulders, as if it had a hard impact.

The bat quickly put up a finger in her lips and shushed her alarmingly. "Don't say anything, don't!" It whispered in a small, female voice. Badger frowned in confusion. "Alright, heh… come here." The bat motioned for her to come forward with a small smile. Badger slowly walked forward, if only to take a better look at her Badger was surprised to see a very young female fruit bat, couldn't be any older than about 18.

'suspect was a teenage fruit bat, possibly a performer of bat country, a pattern already. possible confirmation.

The bat tilted her head, and she spoke to badger quietly. "Hi," she said. "I can't really tell you my name, but… you remember me?"

Badger looked at her. "You're…" she began. "You're the bat that was with… the crested porcupine, right?"

'suspect was in the company of a crested porcupine that day.

The bat giggled. "Yes, I was!"

Badger looked behind her again, in case there were any guards passing by. "What are you doing here?" she questioned. "… Where are your parents? Do they know or…?"

The bat's smile shrank in fear. "No, no! I, uh—" she gulped. "I…" the bat looked downwards sheepishly. "I just thought you might need some…" she almost hid her face behind her wings and spoke even quieter. "Company."

Badger was taken aback. "Company?" she seriously questioned.

The bat now completely hid behind her wings, and peeked in between. "I-I-I saw how, how… sad you looked, and h-how, mean my friend was being… and I thought, um," she stuttered. "I thought that, you… wanted a friend…"

Badger didn't respond right away. She just looked at the shy little bat in incredulity. Was she seriously risking getting in major trouble because she wanted to be her friend? What a… very naive little teen… Badger sighed. "Kid…" she said, making the bat look up in wide eyes. Badger was inclined to turn away. "I appreciate what you're trying to do, but… some animals can't really be helped. You're better off away from here. You heard what your friend said about animals like me. What you're doing isn't really worth it."

Badger tried to turn away, but the bat slowly took her winds away from her face, revealing a confused frown. "That's not what she meant!" she protested. "I know her. She also believes that at least some animals aren't irredeemable. That everyone deserves to be given a chance if they're willing to change. When I saw you… I thought you needed that chance." The bat looked down. "Do you really think you can't be helped?"

Badger looked at her wearily. "You shouldn't risk everything for me. You should be at home, at peace, growing up. You're better off forgetting about all of this."

The bat sat down and puffed up her chest. "I may not be doing what you want… but I'm not going until you get what you need. I can feel it."

Badger seemed more frustrated. "Please," Badger told her firmly. "Please just go home. It's for your own good."

The bat just sat there. She didn't say anything and simply looked to her side, frowning even harder. She lets out a shaky sigh, and spoke in a low voice. "I'm not giving up."

Badger now understood that she couldn't convince the bat to go, and she's made up her mind. Badger got silent as well. She stared down to the floor and sighed deeply. She might as well attempt to tolerate the bat's presence in there.

"Um," the bat mumbled, the shyness returning. "Can, can I ask… look, I know I'm a bit reclusive with MY name but… can I ask yours?"

Badger looked up at the bat's expectant stare. She found her occasionally turning her big eyes away from her own. Badger decided to comply with the curious bat's wish. "It's Madge. Madge Honey Badger."

The bat stared at her. "Oh?… Well… hi, Madge!" she chirped quietly, moving her head as she kept staring at her. "Can I ask… how your day went?" She shot a tiny smile and brightened eyes.

Madge couldn't help but crack a small smile seeing the bat's curious wide-eyed stare and tilted head. She started to talk to her, telling her about the routine days that were jail time, while the bat enthusiastically told her news, and what happened to her during the day (while she was awake). The bat seemed happy, while Madge found herself subtly cheered up by her.

'no apparent jailbreak attempt— suspect just wanted to provide company…

After an hour of talking with her and exchanging news, the bat finally left, while promising to return the next night. The following night, she came back, despite Madge not allowing to get her hopes up until she felt a gentle knock at the bars of the window. The bat had been doing this for at least two weeks, and not only did she consistently talk to her, but in one night, she actually sang quietly; a song about Zootopia, a 'broken down' version of the rap original according to her. During one of the last nights, Madge curiously lifted a finger onto the window of the cell, and the bat wasted no time in leaning in to place the tip of her own nose to it. Madge quickly pulled back, and saw the happiest face she's seen on the bat that night yet. Madge found herself smiling genuinely as she waved her goodbye.

By the time Madge was finished, she was standing up looking at the boarded off window as if the bat was still there. "Afterwards, she was discovered. I…" Madge paused and closed her eyes tightly, seeming to think about what to say. "… when I was out of my cell… they started to board off the window so she wouldn't come back…" Madge stopped her story, in a way that seemed as if she was hesitant to continue. The words wouldn't leave her mouth as she subtly choked over them, replacing them with some ragged breathing.

Judy leaned against the bars of the cell, and Nick was squatting down close. Both of them suspected Madge wasn't giving them all the details of that last part, especially considering the guard's story, but Madge didn't seem ready to elaborate on it; they'd have to find out elsewhere or some other time in a different investigation, if the jail allowed them to speak to her again. They both made sure to keep their findings in mind, as they still had the notes and evidence of something different happening within the jail. For now, they focused on the current case.

"… So the bat's name hasn't been disclosed between you two?" Judy asked.

Madge shook her head no.

Judy looked over her notes for a few minutes in thought, wondering what other leads in the specific case there could be, then inhaled through her nose. "… Do you know anything about the… porcupine who came here, and was an apparent associate of the bat?"

Madge remained quiet for a moment before responding. "… She's the daughter of a… coworker of mine at the general hospital," she began. "His name's Dr. Juan Histrixez."

Judy quickly wrote down the name and his place of work. She turned towards Nick. "Looks like we've got another lead," she told him.

"Oh, Dr. Juan, uh?" Nick commented with a raised eyebrow and a smile. "Back in my hustling days I used to trick his mother, making toothpicks for bears out of her old quills while offering some 'grooming services'. I'm sure he'd be very happy to see me. And with a badge at that."

Judy gave him an awkward, yet playful smile, though secretly wary of what an angry porcupine would be like, even if he wouldn't attack a cop. She turned back towards Madge.

"Are-uh…" Madge began to ask, much more calmly, but still in caution. She managed to turn her head just enough to look at Judy with the corner of her eye. "… Are you finished? Do you have what you need…?"

Judy looked at Nick, then turned back to Madge. She considered asking for more, particularly regarding the jail, but she relented. "… Yes. We have what we need at the moment," Judy said gently. "Thank you." She turned to squeeze back into the cell block and go with Nick to the hospital. Truthfully, she didn't have quite all the answers she wanted, particularly those that were unrelated to the case or the fishy happenings in the jail, but decided she shouldn't make the badger more uncomfortable. Judy walked backwards, looking at Madge as she was turning her body fully towards them. Her glassy eyes pierced through the dark. Judy and Nick both felt a sting of sympathy, before turning back, and walking across the cell block. Thoughts still swimmed in their minds regarding just what I the world happened.

"Wait."

Nick and Judy turned around as they were exiting the block and heading towards the jail's entrance. Madge leaned against the cell bars and pressed her face down to her side on one of the bars. The bar pushed the side of her snout upwards, revealing a row of small, sharp fangs. She gently lifted her head away from the bar, hiding her teeth, making her pleading, worrying eyes stand out more.

"Make sure… she doesn't get hurt because of me."

Judy looked in concern. Once again, she turned towards Nick. She turned back at Madge, looking at her with more sympathy. "Alright," Judy stated. "We won't." She shot her a small, saddened smile.

Madge looked downwards, then retreated back into her cell. Judy and Nick stood there for a few more minutes, in case Madge ever wanted to come back. But she didn't seem to want to talk any longer.

"C'mon," said Nick. "We gotta go look for our little porcupine family. We'll figure all of this out later on." He placed a paw on her shoulder and she began to walk with him. They both still looked back, faintly aware they probably wouldn't see the last of her.

As they walked back to the entrance of the Jail, Judy caught a glimpse of the same pair of guards she found on the hallway, with the bear guard having joined them. As they finally returned to their posts, Judy finally saw what the zebra was holding.

Judy caught her breath and suppressed another gasp when she saw a medium-sized, mustelid-shaped muzzle in the zebra's hooves. She recoiled back in mild shock, but stopped before the guard saw her reaction. She quickly looked at Nick, but he was distracted looking at some of the other glaring inmates. Judy was relieved he didn't see it.

By the time they politely said their farewells to the other guards, many things were buzzing across Judy's head, Nick only once being vaguely aware of it, but not seeing the full implications like his partner did. Now that she's seen it, many loose threads began to tie up, and what wasn't clicking right began to make much more sense. Judy tried her hardest to hide her feelings, but secretly shot a glare towards some of the guards as they exited the jail. Surpressed annoyance ran through her vessels as she got in the driver's seat.

She needed more details, but with the contraption in her memory and the evidence she picked up in front of Madge's cell, Judy already had a bit of an idea to how that story of hers ended.


	4. Q

"So…" Nick said to Judy while on their way to the Zootopia General Hospital. "We've got a young signing bat who is also associated with a porcupine family in addition to that bat band, most likely, who's talking with a convict without permission, and some fishy stuff going on at the jail. Now we're gonna go… make some porcupines nervous, huh?"

Judy scoffed a bit, bringing her out of her lingering worrying thoughts from earlier. "Well… we're just gonna approach them nicely and politely. They can't just be angry all the time because they're porcupines. No, I'm sure they'll listen to reason."

"Yeah, but no, the doc really is like that." Nick stated bluntly. "Trust me, he is genuinely irritable, and I really don't know how to break it to him that his daughter is friends with a suspect. Really, I'm… stumped."

Judy briefly got silent. "Well…" she inhaled deeply. "Like I said, we're going to tell him nicely. Besides, I don't think he'll want to get violent if he works at a hospital."

"Or the fact that we're cops." Nick added, while rolling his eyes. "Yeah, I think he'll just spend the whole day thinking about how much he wants to injure me if I wasn't wearing a badge."

Judy just sighed in irritation. This was already a long day. She forced herself to remain internally optimistic as to how they would deal peacefully with the Hystrixezes.

The police car pulled over to the parking lot of the Zootopia General Hospital. It was getting cloudy outside in the noon, allowing the lights from the hospital to stand out against the daylight. Judy and Nick entered the building, and were met with much more intense lighting from the fluorescent lights in the sterilized environment. Several flu-stricken patients were blowing into their handkerchiefs, others simply looked exhausted and sickly, and one poor, whining jackal had a fishing hook driven right through their nostril and out the side of his nose. Nick appeared to recoil in disgust at that sight, before they both reached the reception desk.

"Good afternoon," Judy announced to the doe receptionist, while Nick had a paw covering the side of his face to shield his sight. "ZPD. We request that we speak to Dr. Juan Histrixez. We have some questions to ask him."

The doe looked at them for a second. "Alright, just one second," she stood up and walked towards the door in the back. Within minutes, the receptionist came out with another doe. The second doe exited the area and faced the two cops.

"Come with me," she said. The doe began to lead them through the doors of the wide hallway and through the quieter, office areas of the hospital. Nick waited until he was past the reception area before taking the paw off his face, which Judy had noticed. All three walked through the wide, sleek hallways, passing by several hospital wings. The doors managed to spare Nick from other sights

Eventually, they came across a door that led to the offices of the hospital staff. The doe peeked inside the door, and appeared to talk to someone inside. Some concerned voices came out of the room. Soon, without saying anything else, the doe went out into the hallway and back to the reception area, practically zooming past the two cops. Judy and Nick watched her go, before Judy got distracted by something else.

"Nick," Judy whispered to him almost teasingly. "Didn't the academy say you'd see even worse stuff than that?"

"Yeah, but this is like a canine sympathy thing!" Nick defended. "We NEED that nose! And if it gets damaged…!"

Before he could finish, a stoat skittered out of the door with some alarm in her voice. She looked straight at Nick and Judy. "Good morning, um," she began politely but a little nervously. "I'm Dr. Emma Least, Dr. Hystrixez is just over here. If you would step forward…?" Emma almost reluctantly signaled the officers to come closer. The door behind her opened again, and she moved out of the way, standing next to the two officers.

Then, alongside a goat, a puma, and a beaver, a porcupine stepped out of the room. The other animals seemed mildly uncomfortable and concerned, but the porcupine remained stoic as he approached the officers. The middle-aged rodent had a metal shell strapped onto his back to conceal his quills, protecting any patients from accidentally being pricked. The porcupine approached them, with the other doctors trailing behind.

"Doctor, these are the officers who wanted to see you." Emma gestured at Judy and Nick. Juan looked at Emma, then at the two cops. His face seemed relaxed enough, typical when facing the police, then he caught a glance at Nick. Juan seemed to lean over to him, slowly recognizing both officers. A frown twisted in his brow and his nose wrinkled in a reserved snarl. His eye gleamed against his badge with barely concealed anger, and his paw formed a fist.

"You're well-known now, Wilde… Tell me, what kind of friends you have in the law for you to get that?" he spoke in a deep, quiet, but rage-filled voice, pointing at Nick. "Do you think that's funny?" His quills rattled under the shell, creating a metallic buzzing. Nick has seen tougher, bigger criminals throughout his career and he's assisted in taking them down without much of a flinch, but nothing could ever prepare him for a mammal like this after years of getting away with hustling his family even once. He could feel himself shrinking down, all the confidence of a police officer fleeting with him.

"Good afternoon, Doctor." Judy quickly interjected. She tried not to sound nervous. Juan turned to look at Judy, his grimace softening, but no less completely calm.

"Good afternoon, Officer Hopps," he greeted as politely and quietly as he could. "What seems to be the problem?" He still shot a quick glare at Nick.

Judy cleared her throat and appeared confident. "Yes, we're here to ask a couple of questions regarding an old case, and we believe this new case might have some close involvement."

Juan snorted. "Is this about Madge?" He immediately questioned, with some faint contempt in his voice and an eyebrow raised suspiciously. The other doctors looked at him uncertainly. Emma, in particular, looked the most uncomfortable and weary as she turned her head to Judy, which only Nick had noticed.

Judy paused and swallowed. "Tangentially," she said. "We're looking for a suspect that's been speaking with Madge without authorization, sneaking through the window of the cell she resides in at the Zootopia Female County Jail. And we believe," she paused for a moment, "your daughter is associated with our suspect."

At the instant mention of her daughter, Juan's look twisted into alarm and rage, breathing through his nose and closing his mouth tightly. Judy, Nick, and even Emma took a step back instinctively. The puma leaned over and whispered something to Juan's ear. Juan quickly turned his head and glared at him, and reached into his belt to grab his phone from the hard case. He turned around and pressed a contact, and the cops faced a rattling metal shell as he waited the phone to answer.

Judy could faintly hear a smaller voice from the other end. Juan started speaking sternly in Spanish, with his volume raising gradually. From what little Spanish Nick and Judy understood, Juan appeared to berate the mammal for getting in trouble with the police. The voice on the other end started speaking defensively, which only apparently made Juan angrier. He retreated back into the room, with the beaver following him. Both voices yelled at each other in Spanish during the conversation within the room.

Amidst the small commotion, Emma looked and Nick and Judy with concern. All three had stood stiff with their eyes widened in confusion and awkwardness, a look similarly exchanged by the other doctors.

The goat coughed into his elbow. "Uh… Emma…?"

"Let him take it easy, Ashton." Emma put her paws forward, and looked back at Nick and Judy.

In several moments, the conversation seemed to quiet down, and Juan began to sound calmer as he stepped out of the room and back into the hall, with the beaver holding his arm. Judy and Nick watched him approach to them again. He seemed aggravated and tired. He placed both hands into his eyes and sighed.

"You…" he began to say to the cops. "You do whatever it is that you need to do. I'll… see what happens later."

Nick moved to open his mouth, but he instead turned to look down at Judy. Judy placed a finger on her chin. "Very well, Doctor," she said politely, showing him a blank page of her notebook and her pen. "We request that you inform us as to where she is, where does she reside in…"

"Yes, of course…" Juan took the notebook and pen, and scribbled down the address to his daughter's home, before handing the notebook and pen back to them. Judy and Nick leaned down to read the address carefully. His daughter appeared to live on a suburban home in an isolated neighborhood called The Cabanas close to Harbour Street. Nick hummed, while Judy squinted and processed the information. Finally, Judy nodded.

"Very well… thank you Doctor," Judy said to Juan, while closing her notebook. "I guess that will be all for now. Have a good day. Don't worry, we'll clear this up soon enough." She shot him a kind smile.

"Alright… Thank you," Juan replied quietly with a nod. "I'll see you soon, officers. Let me know if something happens." He then shot them a small smile himself. The other doctors seemed glad Juan had taken it rather well, and Emma began to show relief and allowed herself to smile.

After that, the two officers finally turned to leave to find their next lead. "Goodbye, and good luck!" Emma said to them kindly as they began to leave for the reception area again, and she headed back to the officers. However, as Judy turned towards Nick in confidence of gaining a lead, she found him with a sly frown. Nick quickly turned around as he walked.

"By the way—" Nick began, walking backwards and pointing at Juan. "I didn't simply have plenty of friends, I HAD to be TRAINED like everyone else at the academy! Yeah, I'm legally qualified to handle tough situatio—"

He crashed back onto a metal wheeled table with a loud clang. With nervous yelps and a fearful expression, he scrambled to hold on to the table to keep himself from falling, but struggled from the table moving and his feet slipping on the floor. Judy stopped and watched him with a baffled, almost embarrassed face, as Nick took deep breaths and managed to find balance again. Just behind them, Juan laughed out loud at him. He threw his head back and laughed as hard as he could, almost on the verge of falling over, while the other doctors stared at him. Nick turned back and looked at Juan in quiet disgust, and turned to walk away with Judy while dusting himself off.

"Oh, he's never going to let me forget that one, that's for sure," Nick said despondently. This time, Judy couldn't help but turn her head away and snicker to herself for a few seconds. They quietly exited the hospital and headed back to the car, not bringing up the little incident again.

* * *

After a fairly uneventful drive through the streets of Savannah Central, they reached the very corner of the Zootopia during their approaching of Harbor Street. They found a fairly average suburban area, with few shopping centers and markets. Due to their proximity to the water around the city and the Rainforest District, the area seemed to be vaguely tropical-themed, though more humble and casual, and less glamorous than the Oasis at Savannah Square. Following the address, they entered a street leading to the neighborhood The Cabanas.

They found the neighborhood to be a gated community, though they passed through security without much trouble. The house was placed close to the entrance at the end of a dead-end street, so they had no trouble finding it quickly. The car parked itself close to the sidewalk, finding a minivan and a pickup truck at the very end of the street, between the neighboring houses.

Both cops exited the vehicle and approached the house. On their way to the front door, they found an open garage. In the garage sat various band equipment; an electric guitar, a battery, and an electronic organ, all prepped up on a stage. They looked at the equipment, then approached the front door.

Nick reached towards the door knocker and banged the door with it. "ZPD!" he announced. Judy and Nick stood and waited for the door to be answered for a few moments. Soon, they heard the locks of the door loosening, and the door opened inwards.

A younger porcupine stood upright, eyes concealed behind a pair of sport sunglasses and her face shadowed by a baseball cap. She held a glass bottle of mango and carrot juice. The shorter porcupine stared at them stoically, before slouching against the doorframe in a more relaxed pose. Her mouth hung open in realization, and slowly curled into a tiny smirk.

"Dad never mentioned it was you two," she said in a snide tone. She snorted dismissively and took a sip of her juice. "This should be good." The smirk was gone, but the sarcasm was there. The porcupine continued to stare at the two cops in indifference. Nick didn't seem excited about his little fame in Zootopia when it came to this family, while Judy seemed more willing to approach politely, reaching out to shake her hand.

"Good afternoon, miss… um," Judy gestured to her.

"Call me Q," the porcupine stated as a matter-of-fact, shaking Judy's hand with some more force than necessary, before pulling her hand back and holding a finger up. "Not by my first name, not even to you. You can look it up yourself, but I'm not saying it. Miss Histrixez is my mom, so you can't call me that, just call me… Q. No… Q-uestions." Q bared her teeth at them, not threateningly, but rather in a pseudo-smile. Judy blinked at Q, while Nick half-closed his eyes and had one eyebrow raised.

Q sighed, and took another sip of her bottle. "Get in," she invited, though she made it sound more like a command. Nick shook his head and entered, with Judy following behind. They took glances at the porcupine's home, finding abstract paintings with quills stuck to them in various controlled patterns across the living room and den. Plenty of other furniture in the house had also been impaled with quills, most noticeably the places to sit down (so much for that). Q was in the kitchen, taking the last few sips of her bottle and leaving it empty. The tips of her claws banged the glass in a rhythm before putting it down and reaching for the microwave, glancing at the two cops approaching her.

"You guys want a sandwich or something?" she took a plate from the microwave and held it towards the two cops. Nick softened and looked highly relieved, but Judy looked a bit uncertain.

"Yeah, sure do!" He reached out for the sandwich in the plate. "Haven't had lunch all day—"

"Well I'm hungry too so you're gonna have to wait," she interrupted, then took a bite out of the sandwich without breaking eye contact with Nick. She immediately turned around and retreated to the den before she could see his reaction. Judy looked a tad disgusted at her, but Nick's expression was unreadable… and understanding. Nick looked down at Judy with a sarcastic smirk.

"Well, she seems like a sophisticated, charming, and fine young lady, right?" he said, and shook his head in pity. "At least she looks like she'll cooperate." Nick said in sincerity. "She doesn't seem to care either way."

Judy hummed. They both then followed Q to the den. She sat splayed in a couch with dozens of quills stuck to it, seemingly not paying attention to the two cops as they approached her. She entertained herself on her iPaw-pad while letting the crumbs on her sandwich fall on her stomach. Judy and Nick looked at her, and stayed silent for a few moments.

"So…" Judy began to say. "…Q… I'm sure your father has told you already this already. But we have some questions to ask you."

"Yeah…" Q said in a lazy, sarcastic tone, and slowly took her eyes of her iPaw-pad. She produced an uncomfortable frown. "I've heard."

Judy cleared her throat, and she and Nick stood closer to Q. "Don't worry, you're not under arrest or anything, we just need you to work with us," Judy attempted to reassure, and stood even closer to Q. "We have testimony saying that you might be acquainted with a bat suspect, someone who's been sneaking out to see an inmate without permission. Do you know anything about this bat's whereabouts, for questioning?"

Q's frown deepened, and she remained quiet. She looked away, and leaned her face in her paw in thought. She grumbled and snorted, occasionally pressing her fingers to her forehead. Nick and Judy seemed to notice she was bothered and annoyed by something, but mostly annoyed. They silently decide to let her take her time. Finally, after a few minutes, Q let out a deep sigh and shook her head.

"Figures," she breathed out. Q got up from the couch, sticking even more quills on it, and stood there. She stretched her back out, the quills rattling quietly from the movement, and shook the crumbs off her stomach. She stared blankly at nothing.

"CAP'N!" Q suddenly bellowed. After the startling noise and their own jump, Judy and Nick heard slow footsteps from the stairs. A capybara slowly came into view from behind them, looking sleepy and with disheveled fur around his head, and scratched his stomach as he stepped into the den.

"Hey, Q," he said in a casual, relaxed tone. He stopped as soon as he saw the two cops and his eyes flew more open. "Ohhhhhhh." He stood before them with a vaguely awkward expression. 'Cap'n' made a sympathetic neck-slicing gesture with his fingers as he made eye contact with Q with his half-closed eyes once more. Once Q shook her head and shrugged, Cap'n let out a small laugh and held out a single arm. "What's up?" he asked almost monotonously, but still in a friendly manner.

"SMILEY!" Q bellowed again. Nick and Judy jumped again, but Cap'n didn't even seem to react, aside from stepping aside. This time, quick, quieter footsteps ran from down the stairs. A bobcat leaned very closely against the wall to the den, his entire head peeking through the edge. His eyes were wide and big in curiosity and his mouth was small. He then tilted his head in an exaggerated manner.

"… Uh, Oh?!" he shouted. He practically bounced forward in full view and directed himself towards Cap'n. "That, them that, uh that— that what I think it is?"

"Heh, yep," Cap'n told him, and placed a paw on his head. "It's Hopps and Wilde, dude! Now you know they're here for some big stuff going down. Mam, that's crazy."

"Oh, ha, ha ha!" Smiley grinned with a mouth and a row of teeth that seemed to have grown even bigger. "I thought they were just REGULAR cops! NOW this is gonna get interesting!"

Q laughed and gave them a friendly smile and a pair of clasped paws, before asserting herself. "Boys," she stated. "I see you have an idea to what we're dealing with now. All I can say is, once again, I was right. Now we're gonna HELP these nice cops, Hopps and Wilde at that, so that we can cut our 'losses' here and not get in even more trouble." Q clapped her paws, and Cap'n and Smiley walked and ran respectively behind her, avoiding her quills expertly. Smiley reached over and handed Q her phone. All three looked at the two cops, whom by then were staring in mild bafflement.

"Yeah, we know the bat," Q said playfully, then pressed a contact in her phone. "She's like a sister to me. I'll… negotiate with her for you, and I'll show you where she is." Her tone seemed kind, but Judy and Nick could tell this porcupine has pent-up anger in between. Nick shrugged at Judy, and Judy facepalmed as she questioned herself what have they both just gotten into.

Q turned around, facing Cap'n and Smiley as the phone began to answer. Q posed a vaguely malevolent look in her eyes as she heard the tiny voice from the other end. She responded to the voice with a mocking and insincere snicker, causing Cap'n and Smiley to look at each other and shake their heads at the same time, Smiley whispering another 'uh, oh'. The voice on the other end seemed worried at Q's tone, and shakily asked Q's name in confusion. Q bared her teeth at the rodent and feline and took a breath.

"Oh, Rita." Q had a grin on her face, before it turned into a teeth-grinding scowl. "You're dead."


	5. To the Bat Cave

Eventually, the pickup truck and the minivan drove on their way to the Rainforest District, with the cop car following them closely.

Cap'n rode on his pickup truck with Q's minivan trailing behind him, and Q having the cops follow her to find Rita's supposed home. Smiley rode on the passenger seat of Q's minivan, still holding Q's phone while she was busy on the road; Cap'n's ride was calm compared to the drama that was ensuing at the van.

"C'mon, Q, please!" Rita begged on the phone. "Don't let them take me to juvie, seriously! Q!?"

"HEY! Shut up!" Q yelled. "I told you this was going to happen, I freaking TOLD YOU! And you didn't listen to me! Now I HAVE to turn you in or we'd ALL be in fff-trouble!" With each yell, Q turned the wheel abruptly and caused the car to screech. Nearby animals watched the minivan zoom by erratically, some holding on to the posts nearby. Smiley shrunk into his seat and held on to the arm rest stiffly, with his eyes wide, his big mouth tightly closed, and his ears nearly flat against his head. Judy promptly honked the siren every time she saw the van's erratic movement.

"Do your parents know the cops are coming?!" Q demanded, as she approached the district.

"Ah, n-n-no!?" Rita whined.

"Mother-H-hugger!" Q nearly forgot about the dampening road of the district when they began to enter it. Even Q couldn't help but feel nervous at the fact that she almost drove over the edge of one highway, before looking back at the road and noticing a bridge starting to open in front of Cap'n. She promptly slammed the brakes with force before she could crash on his pickup truck. Smiley nearly dropped the phone from his paw, and both began to breathe heavily. Smiley was practically wheezing.

Cap'n finally noticed the screeching behind him, and peeked his head through the window of his truck to look behind at them. "Hey, Q?" he said in a louder voice, though his usual tone was kept intact. "Maybe, you uh, should chill out back there? Uh."

Judy honked the siren again, this time, emitting a longer sound. Within the car, Judy sighed yet again and threw her head back in her seat. Nick put his paw on her shoulder in sympathy. "Just relax for a bit," Nick told her. "We're getting closer to finding our suspect."

Judy's ears perked up and she opened her mouth, feeling herself almost reassured of that fact… But her ears drooped again soon enough. "… But then we're gonna have to decide what to do with her," she said in a quiet voice. Judy gulped at the thought of having to apprehend a minor for a charge that had probably stemmed more from well-meant recklessness over any malice. She spent a second trying to think over the protocol, before deciding that she should get to know this little bat.

"Um," Rita asked sheepishly upon hearing the siren. "Are-are those them?"

"Yeah, those are the cops," Q replied a little more calmly, but no less furious, breathing through her nose in anger. "Not just some cops, Rita. Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde."

Rita gasped upon hearing their names.

"You KNOW what this means right?!" Q questioned, before moving forward once the bridge had lowered, though somewhat less recklessly. However, she nearly floored it when Rita didn't answer right away. Q felt her own voice emit a growl. "It means… you're a priority, to the ZPD!" she yelled again, making sure to put emphasis on the 'ty'. "A PRIORITY! NOW YOU'RE REALLY IN TROUBLE! TELL EVERYONE AT LEAST! LET 'EM KNOW WHAT'S HAPPENING!"

From the other end, Smiley and Q could hear whimpers, and shaky breaths. Within seconds, the whimpers grew louder until they began to sound like sobs. Smiley stared at the phone in sheer pity, and looked up at Q with weary eyes. Q simply looked at the road with a cold, seemingly dismissive frown.

"O-o-okay…" Rita finally responded with a shaky voice, trying to calm herself down. This time, Q didn't say anything for nearly the remainder of the trip. Rita didn't hang up yet, while Smiley looked down in worry. The trio of cars continued to cruise down the paths of the district, until they reached a second path in the road.

"We're getting close," Q said monotonously. "Tell someone."

"A-alright…" Rita seemed to have calmed down. As the group of cars drove on their way to approach her home, she hung up.

Cap'n took an isolated, deeper path down leading to a darker road within the Rainforest District, with Q and Judy following him. Cap'n drove several more meters ahead until an illuminated, brown-colored sign that read 'You are now approaching the Bat Caverns. Please dim your headlights' came to view in front of him. From there, he began to slow down, the other cars following suit. In a few moments, the group found the entrance of a fairly large cave at a wide space. Several lampposts illuminated the road, as well as another brown-colored sign with the generic shape of a bat that read 'Welcome to the Bat Caverns!'. However, all the lights faced away from the dark cavern entrance.

Cap'n parked his truck at a parking lot close to the entrance, and the other two cars parked next to him. (Most of the spaces and other cars were tailored for bat residents, but there was plenty of bigger spaces for visitors.) Cap'n exited his truck calmly, and walked over to Q's minivan to see her practically kicking her own door open and making Smiley flinch before he exited out of the van himself.

"You doin' fine?" Cap'n asked.

"Yeah, sure," Q answered bluntly, but Smiley looked at Cap'n, and made a more exaggerated neck-slicing gesture while shaking his head. Cap'n smacked his tongue in sympathy, and Q felt herself frown. Q then turned around to see Judy and Nick approaching the group after exiting the police car.

"So this is the place?" Nick asked casually, while Judy wrote something down on a paper.

"A fraction of it," Q answered with a hint of frustration. "This is a neighborhood, so it's from here, to a residence, to our flying fox among legions of God knows how many dang bats inside. But we'll find her quickly, assuming she's not hiding in shame…"

"Oh, no she can't hide from the cops—" Nick began to comment.

"From US," Q interrupted, gesturing herself. The other two shrugged.

"Well…" Judy, by then, had finished writing what she needed, and looked up at Nick, and then at the bandmates. "Assuming that finding her here won't be any trouble at all, I'd like to say, thank you for your cooperation," Judy said nicely.

"Eh," Q said more calmly, "I just hope this mess is gonna get cleared up anytime soon…"

"I'm sorry about this, by the way," Judy handed Q the paper she was writing on, then turned her back and quickly walked to the entrance, with Nick following. Cap'n and Smiley proceeded to almost sprint behind the cops in fear as Q read the paper. Soon enough, Q began to grip the paper tightly, flared her nostrils, and burrowed her frow. None of the other mammals needed to turn around to see her anger, she began to grunt and curse loudly to herself. Cap'N and Smiley cringed and looked at each other. This time, Nick couldn't contain his smirk, while Judy rolled her eyes in sincere sympathy.

Judy, Nick, Cap'N, and Smiley went through the cave entrance, walking on even, yet moist ground, until they reached some sort of balcony. To their left sat a set of stairs that would take them deeper into the cavern underground where the neighborhood was located. Judy approached the stairs, then looked back to the other mammals. Nick and Smiley peeked down from the balcony rails, using their night vision to discern the neighborhood below. Meanwhile, Cap'n lay his back on the rail in a relaxed pose, waiting for Q to arrive.

The porcupine had recovered from her little tantrum, putting the half-torn ticket to her sweat pants' pocket. Q was still fuming, and stomped right over to the stairs where Judy was waiting, completely ignoring the other boys. Judy looked back at a glaring Q, and made sure to avoid any awkward altercation that would've simply slowed them down. Instead, Judy just shifted a sympathetic, apologetic look and shrugged her shoulders at her. After a moment of the same glaring, Q moved past Judy and pointed to the stairs.

"This way." Q's voice cracked half-heartedly, and began to descend from the stairs with her paw lazily sliding across the medium mammal handrail. Judy followed suit calmly, and the boys ran to the stairs to catch up to them. The ground was damp under their feet because of the district's humidity and vegetation, making traversing down tricky. Nick held on to the also damp rails and descended more slowly and Judy watched her step, but Q practically skipped down the stairs. Nick heard a sliding noise on the rail he was holding on to, and leapt back to find Smiley sliding happily down the rail. He reached the entrance faster than Q did.

Q looked back at Judy, Nick, and Cap'n, then pointed to the arched entrance of the Caverns. "Gives it a classic look, huh?" she stated dryly, not in the mood for too many tours. She headed down inside, and made a motion with her hand as the rest of the group also came in. "Welcome to the Bat Caverns."

Judy and Nick went through the entrance, into the neighborhood proper. Judy gasped when she sees just how wide and expanse the cavernous nocturnal neighborhood actually is beneath the rest of Zootopia. The spacious cavern was illuminated in dim white and yellow lights in its walls, the ceiling was decorated with special houses built on sturdy stalactites, along with nets and interconnected bridges across it. They saw several bats flying into their homes, walking upside down on the nets, and right side up on the bridges. In the floor, the land mammals walked on a wide boardwalk with lampposts and benches above a big underwater lagoon, itself illuminated with blue lights. Large stalagmites stuck out of the water with houses that housed other nocturnal land mammals.

"Wow…" Judy breathed, her words echoing across the cave, but the inhabitants didn't seem to mind. She leaned down to the rail and looked down to the lagoon to see a boat full of rats and mice in spelunking gear on their way to a channel. "This is impressive! I've never been to this part of the city before!"

"Even I didn't come down here really often," Nick commented, watching some young megabats playing on the bridges, uncaring that they might fall off. "Was starting to forget what it looked like."

"Pretty nifty, ain't it?" Smiley cheerfully quipped, and started gesturing. "Nice, and cool and quiet… well, unless they start a-screeching, the uh, microbats. Not anything like the band's singing. Not their fault, though, 'cause the cave's pretty big and echoey and all and with all these bats living here…"

"We're ALL hearing you, Smiley, don't push it." A reverb male bat's voice echoed throughout the cave, causing everyone to stop in their tracks for a moment.

A lone large flying fox stood like a meerkat on top of a large, uninhabited, rock-like stalagmite. His large, greyish eyes gleamed against the cavern's lighting. The bat leapt up and spread his wings, flying rapidly towards the boardwalk. He skittered in his landing below a lamppost, causing his body to be seen fully under the light, before standing up straight and assuming sophistication.

"Hey, Vincent," Q casually greeted, approaching the bat.

"Good evening, Q." Vincent gave her a warm smile and reached to shake her paw. His smile then faded. "We… just heard from Rita about what's going on…" He shook his head. "I'm very disappointed. She really should have known better."

"Hmph, yeah," Q remarked, while shaking Vincent's hand. "Anyway, the cops are here to see her, now."

"Ah." Vincent opened his canine-like mouth and approached the two officers, walking past Smiley and Cap'n. Judy felt a tiny pinch of surprise when she saw that she actually had to tilt her neck upwards to meet his face, as she didn't know bats could get that big. The front of his body appeared shadowed from her perspective. He did, however, take a bow, and greeted them with politeness.

"Evening, officers!" He extended his arm for a shake, with Nick, and later Judy accepting. Vincent placed his other hand into his chest. "My name is Vincent Foxworth. This is my home, the Bat Caverns." He extended his wings to present the environment. "It's quite breathtaking isn't it? Beautiful. As you can see, it's a wide open space for us bats to fly freely. Yes, bats are the only mammals capable of true, sustained flight, you know. Our natural ability is the stuff of greatness. We can travel anywhere, fly anywhere. When our stamina sees fit, only the sky's the limit. Sure, anyone can be anything, but bats can be everything!"

Q snapped her fingers. "Aaaalright, Vinnie. Knock it off. Don't get too full of yourself, alright, they came here for a reason." Q leaned to face him. "So where's Rita? Still moping about it?"

"Rita…" Vincent fully faced Q, and wore a face of sympathy. "... She is at her home… The whole band's up there in a worried frenzy while her parents chastise her. Should I tell them the police have arrived to, er, take her?"

Judy couldn't help but cringe a little at that remark. Quickly, she needed to think of something else to do. Measure her options as to what to do. Maybe they wouldn't have to take her.

"We'll find out, Vincent," Q stated, and directed herself to Judy and Nick. "We're gonna take you to her home, to her parents, and… you do whatever it is you have to do." Q then turned around and prepared to lead, until she stands there. Her quills began to rattle and grow stiff. "She's NOT going to get hurt, right?" She asked through gritted teeth.

"No, she will not," Judy said with confidence. She had made a vow after all. "We will make sure nothing happens to her."

Q looked over her shoulder, wearing a doubtful frown, and blinked slowly. Finally she allowed herself to relax her quills, and prepared to lead them to Rita's home. Cap'n and Smiley looked back at the officers, before moving behind Q as she begins to walk down the boardwalk.

"How noble…" Vincent commented, before joining in with the others. The duo soon followed them, and caught up with Vincent. Nobody said anything during the walk, Judy and Nick especially thinking of what to do. After a few minutes of walking, the cave began to get slightly darker as it moved away from the underground lake, and the boardwalk approached another entrance leading to other houses with a lower ceiling. From there, they could hear screeches of various words and sentences as bats talked to each other.

"Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde…" Vincent began to say. It seemed as if the whole city had remembered their names. "Wilde… Fellow walking fox. Ground fox."

" Ground fox?" Nick remarked in incredulity, then scoffed. "That's a new one."

"Yes, we're occasionally called flying foxes because of our canine facial structure," Vincent stated. "But rest assured, we fruit bats are prey animals… Even though very few predators in our primitive state have been able to catch any of us." He extended his wing to the ceiling. "We simply fly away, out of danger. In the sky, we are at the most safe."

Vincent seemed to be caught up in his own words to be able to pay attention to Judy humming in doubt. Nick did notice, and looked down at her.

"What's up," he asked to her.

"Well…" Judy sighed, trying to articulate her thoughts. "Q wasn't kidding when she said he was full of himself…" She tried to make it sound like a joke.

Nick smiled and let out a small chuckle, before looking ahead and promptly ignoring those thoughts. Vincent also seemed absent-minded to the whole thing, continuing to stare at the high cavern walls as if they were clouds.

Before Judy could think on it any further, Q stopped in her tracks and snapped her fingers loudly multiple times, keeping her gaze in one spot on the ceiling. The whole group promptly looked up at where she was looking. A fairly large group of bats, most of them microbats and some megabats, had gathered in the same spot on a net in front of a small group of houses, clamoring and occasionally screeching, with their voices echoing through the cave.

" ¡EY! ¡¿Que pa'o?! " Q shouted in her native accent at them, and they all turned to stare with their bright, large eyes against the floor of the cavern. "Come down 'ere!"

Quickly, a flurry of wings descended down on the group. Wind from their flight blew against their faces as the looked for a place to land, and Judy and Nick instinctively ducked down and blinked rapidly. Then the flurry stopped, and the two officers looked up to see every bat on the ground, gathered in a crowd around the whole group. Due to the majority of the microbats' size, most of them had to tilt their heads to meet the larger mammals. The clamoring started up again.

"Alright, alright !" Q shouted again, while the other boys were busy humoring some of the smaller bats. "Settle down! Let's try to find some of the megabats around here, no? How- HEY! " A microbat flew over Q's head and straight into Judy's feet. The little white bat stared at her with gigantic eyes and a small smile.

"Hi, Officer Judy!" she greeted in a small voice, moving away from Judy's feet and putting her winds close to her own body. "M-my name is Pearl, and I really think you're nice!"

Judy's put a hand over her chest. "Oh! Well, thank you!" She couldn't help but giggle a little bit herself.

"Whoa!" Nick ducked when he thought he saw an insect flying over him. When it got to the ground next to Pearl, Nick saw not a bug, but another very tiny bat, even tinier than the white bat.

"Heya!" greeted the bumblebee bat in a surprisingly loud and fairly deep voice for his size. "I'm Bumble B. Jefferson! You two are super cool!" even talking normally seemed to incite lingering echoes on the caverns. Judy felt her own sensitive ears twitch again.

"Ey!" "Ey!" Two identical bats flew down in front of the two officers, giving them toothy, playful fanged smiles. They noticeably looked far more mischievous than the other microbats, and slightly bigger at that.

"Hopps!" said the male spectral bat in a thick spanish accent, "Wilde!" said the female one in the same accent. Then they presented each other. "Esteban!" shouted the female one to her brother, "Patricia!" Spencer shouted to his sister. "Linneo siblings, welcome!" They both shouted at the same time.

"Can you guys please just skip the introductions for now?" Q pulled at the bristles at the top of her head, and directed to the bats in front of Judy and Nick. "Right now, we need to find Rita and her family so these nice cops can SPEAK to them, alright ?"

The other bats finally chose to quiet down their voices, if not go completely silent, while the bats in front of Judy and Nick finally moved away, less happy than they had been. One of the twins half-heartedly swinged his wing at the direction of a small number of the group's megabats, who slowly started to walk ahead towards the officers. The other boys parted the way to allow them in, and everyone watched them patiently. They were a family of four fruit bats, looking on with a combination of fear and disappointment. One of the bats was hiding their face behind their wings, being held to by a teenage male protectively.

"Ah, um… hello, officers," the male fruit bat greeted quietly. "I am… Mr. Rodrigues." He paused and looked back at his family for a moment. "You are… looking for my daughter?"

Neither Nick or Judy replied right away. They looked at each other, now sure this was going to be difficult. Judy cleared her throat and attempted to hide her own discomfort. "Yes, sir… we're here for her."

Mr. Rodrigues remained silent as he turned to his wife. She pried the hidden bat away from their brother's arms, and slowly guided them forward. Q immediately got closer, wearing a concerned frown, while Cap'n and Smiley looked on in worry, and Vincent scowled and shook his head.

The hidden bat was hunched over, trying to make themselves just as small as the other microbats, still not taking their wings off their face. Q's frown deepened.

"Don't try to hide, please," she stated in frustration and weariness. "There's no other way around this."

The bat seemed to mumble something under their wings, and lowered their head. They slowly, gently took their wings off their face, and peeked upwards. Rita stared at the two officers in shame with glassy eyes, continuing to lower her wings until they were close to her body from the shoulder down, like Pearl had done before. She turned her head to her friends and bandmates, most of whom looked at her in sympathy, and felt herself cringe at both Q and Vincent. Nick let out a sigh, while Judy pensively brought her hand to her chin, feeling very unsure. Eventually, Rita began to speak quietly.

"Do I…" she paused, taking a deep sigh and swallowing a lump. "D-do I… have the right to remain silent…?"


End file.
